Near the Portuguese town of Santa Cruz is one of the most unusual air harbors on our planet - Funchal Airport. Madeira and Santa Catarina are other, more famous, names. It began functioning on July 8, 1964 and is currently owned by the state-owned company ANA. Every year they pass on average just over two million passengers. This terminal cannot be called either the busiest or the most comfortable in Europe. Its uniqueness lies in the "suspended" runway, the design of which is one of the most unique in the world.
Landing difficulty
Due to its short runways (1,600 meters each), Madeira Airport (Portugal) has long been considered very difficult even for experienced pilots. Moreover, the situation was aggravated by climatic conditions, because when the mountain dry and sea wet winds were mixed, strong turbulent flows appeared. Before landing, the airliner had to be sent to the mountains, and at the very last moment - to change the direction of flight and turn into a strip.
Tragedy
Numerous tourists preferred to travel through these air gates because of their cheapness. The fact is that the cost of tickets for flights that followed to other airports in Portugal was much higher. Be that as it may, the operation of the terminal under such extreme conditions could not fail to end tragically. On November 19, 1977, the Boeing 727 airliner, which was traveling from Brussels, did not stop within the runway due to heavy rain with wind and poor visibility and collapsed from a height of 70 meters into a cliff. The disaster resulted in the death of 131 people.
Reconstruction
After the tragedy, no one had any doubt that the Madeira airport, or rather its runway, urgently needed to be reconstructed. Improvement work was started immediately. They lasted about eight years. The designers made a bold decision to increase its length due to the beach. As a result of the modernization, the air harbor received a runway with a total length of 2777 meters. Its main part is located on the ground, and the rest - on 180 reinforced concrete pillars, the diameter of each of which is three meters. The height of some of these pylons above sea level reaches 50 meters. Since then, Madeira Airport has not only become much safer. Thanks to this revolutionary solution, its throughput increased . In other words, a much larger number of aircraft are now taking off and landing here.
How to get there
Madeira Airport is located 24 kilometers from Funchal, the main city on the island. The easiest and cheapest way to get there are Aerobus buses, which run at intervals of 30 minutes. It takes the same amount of time to travel to the center. The ticket price here is 5 euros. Due to the fact that the region is a tourist, there will be no problems with ordering a transfer directly to the hotel. Do not forget about a taxi - the most comfortable option. For this pleasure you will have to pay about 30 euros, and the travel time will be no more than 20 minutes.
Some features
The airport, although not large, is clean and comfortable, so it is very pleasant to be here. There is only one terminal and several registration desks. As in many other airports, there are many shops, cafes and restaurants on its territory. Local prices are not too high, so visitors will be pleased. At the same time, one cannot fail to note the fact that the Portuguese are very slow people, so you can wait a long time in line here. Among other things, Madeira Airport is one of the few global air harbors that boasts a balcony. At the same time, any person can watch him from airplanes, regardless of whether he has a ticket or not.
Awards
A unique project to expand the runway was awarded by the International Association of Buildings, Bridges and Structures. As a result, in 2004 the airport became the winner in the nomination “The Most Outstanding Building Construction”. It should be noted that in Portugal this award is considered to be a kind of Oscar in the field of structures. Be that as it may, the main achievement that Madeira can boast of is flight safety.